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- Purple marsh crabs are significantly disrupting carbon cycling in salt marshes along the East Coast of the U.S., according to a study led by Batten School & VIMS scientists.
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- As an expression of parental pride in their daughter, Taylor Spencer ‘83 and Martha Spencer recently established an undergraduate field research endowment at the Batten School & VIMS.
  
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Northern searobin

Prionotus carolinus

Information and species illustrations courtesy of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Species Information
Size Small, maximum size to 38 cm.
Diagnostic characters Mouth subterminal, lower jaw not extending beyond upper jaw and without small ventral knob; pectoral fins moderate to long (equal to or greater than head length and extending to or beyond origin of anal fin), coloration variable, body coloration not silvery; preopercular spine not short, reaching past operculum; body cavity ends at anal-fin origin. Nasal and supraocualr cirri absent. Spinous dorsal fin without 2 non-ocellated spots; 1 spot may be ocellated or no distinct spots. Spinous dorsal fin with black spot between the fourth and fifth spine, with spot surrounded by hyaline area which extends anteriorly towards and to the first dorsal-fin spine. Branchiostegal rays dusky or black; pectoral fin without small, numerous light-coloured blue spots; large white spot on dorsal caudal peduncle.
Habitat, biology, and fisheries Usually in depths of 18 to 55 m, range from 9 to 170 m. Taken in commercial catches as bycatch, flesh edible.
Distribution Nova Scotia to eastern Florida.
Citations Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 1: Introduction, molluscs, crustaceans, hagfishes, sharks, batoid fishes, and chimaeras. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 1-600. Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 601-1374. Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 3: Bony fishes part 2 (Opistognathidae to Molidae), sea turtles and marine mammals. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 1375-2127.